Project Pygmalion
by RainStorm4
Summary: Cobra could have cloned anyone in the world; why did they only stop at one? Because it was an awful, awful idea. But Cobra Commander isn't in the habit of letting that stop him...


**This is going to be a multi-chaptered fic based around one simple idea: Cobra had cloning capabilities. Why didn't they use them more?**

Sounds swam around it, rolling and sloshing and then hitting a sudden hardness. It nudged them, pushing and pulling, examining them in minute detail.

_Wel...ome …o …orl._

The soft, gentle sounds were alright, but there didn't seem to be much to them. They just floated in the darkness like clouds of fog or a soft, floating cloth. It felt like there should be more to them.

There was more though, more that it simply hadn't turned its attention to yet. Harder sounds that seemed to weigh the softer noises down, to keep them from floating away.

It examined these solid sounds now, trying to work out where they fit in the puzzle. It ran the words through its mind, decided that didn't make sense, and tried again.

_Wel…ome to… world._

That sounded right, or more right, but there were still those pesky sharp noises, the ones that cut its ears. It had a feeling that as uncomfortable as they might be, those sounds were what gave cut the sounds, gave shape to the cloth, as it were. For the third time, it recalled the words and tried again.

_Welcome to the world._

* * *

Mindbender was not happy.

He should have been, but he was not.

The reasons for his unhappiness were complex and layered, but if he were inclined to simplify things, he would blame the Joes.

The Joes had foiled Cobra's latest plot – though really, it hadn't taken much effort on their part. Who would have thought that holding the world to ransom with a blizzard-machine cunningly hidden in the Sahara would work? _Nobody,_ because it _hadn't._

Regardless, the Joes had not only destroyed the machine, the base and a nearby cache of weapons someone had left lying about, but during the course of the mission those damned ninja had actually ferreted out Cobra's friendly government insider in the region. This meant that Cobra could kiss goodbye to the steady stream of mineral resources and, more importantly – to the Commander, at least – the pet snakes the organisation had enjoyed previously.

All of this had resulted in a huge temper-tantrum, and the order to activate Project Pygmalion.

He stood in front of it now, trying to convince himself that he wasn't procrastinating. This was a bad idea. Scientifically sound, of _course_, but a bad idea.

"If you haven't got the balls for it," a soft voice said in his ear, "I can always push the big red button."

"Zartan!" Mindbender flinched and then tried to pretend he hadn't. "I'm very busy here!"

"Busy what, trying not to wet yourself?" The chameleon-man strolled around the tank, eyes fixed on the machine. "The Commander sent me to hurry you up. He wants this baby activated, and what the Commander wants, the Commander gets."

"It's not that simple," Mindbender blustered.

"Isn't it?" Zartan asked lazily. "Better get started then."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you're enjoying this."

Zartan shrugged. "Maybe I am. Those damn ninjas have been out for my blood for years now. It'd be nice to see them with their hands full for once. Besides, watching you squirm isn't bad daytime viewing, that's for sure."

"Get out!" Mindbender yelled. "Out! I will not tolerate your snide comments, this is a delicate process!"

"Delicate," Zartan drawled, strolling out of the lab. "Sure."

Mindbender shook his head, and massaged his eyes. He had no choice. Orders were orders, and Cobra Commander was a sociopath with an ego the size of a tank who didn't like to be questioned.

Mindbender wasn't judging. He would be the first to admit that his ego probably deserved its own gravitational field, but he had also gone out of his way to nurture a survival instinct – something the Commander only displayed when it suited him. And at the moment? It was going crazy.

But orders were orders. He turned to the machine, shook his head again, and pressed the button, murmuring under his breath "Welcome to the world."

* * *

"So," Storm Shadow drawled, falling in beside Snake Eyes as they entered the messhall.

Snake Eyes glanced at him irritably and signed, *So what?*

"So when are you going to apologise to Scarlett and admit that you were wrong?"

*I wasn't wrong! She was wrong and she won't admit it!*

Storm Shadow shook his head. "No, no, Brother. Those aren't the wiggles you should be doing." He signed in elaborately over-the-top motions *I'm sorry. You were right.* "That's what you should show her."

*She isn't right.*

"So? Apologise anyway. She's happy because she thinks you saw the error of your ways, you're happy because she's happy, _and_ you can keep to your erroneous ways besides."

*I'm not lying to Shana.*

"Don't think of it as lying, think of it as diplomacy."

Snake Eyes frowned.

"It's up to you. Why do I even care that your girlfriend is mad at you? It's not like you're not getting laid, or anything. Or that we have to teach hand-to-hand today."

Snake Eyes frowned again, then turned and headed straight to the table where Shana was sitting with Jaye and Flint, scowling at her eggs like they had insulted her mother. He plonked the tray down next to her, then signed, *I'm sorry. You were right.*

Scarlett frowned as Jaye and Flint developed a sudden interest in their coffee. "You'd better not be just saying that."

*I'm not. I was being a jerk. I apologise.*

Scarlett let a reluctant smiled crawl across her face. "Well, if you're willing to admit to jerkdom, I'm willing to admit to being a bitch."

*If anyone else said that I'd be honour-bound to kill them for it.*

Scarlett's smile deepened. "You're sweet."

Behind her back, Storm Shadow caught Snake's eye and gave him a thumb's-up.

* * *

The body lay on the operating table, dozens of lines leading into its skin. Mindbender leaned over it, scanning the screens, nervousness forgotten in the rush of adrenaline that earth-shattering science always gave him.

"All looking good," he murmured. "Yes, you're a marvel, aren't you?" he asked the body. "I'm getting more and more brilliant each day…"

"Ssssshould I leave you two alone?"

The sarcastic hissing noise made Mindbender's teeth grind. "Commander. I had no idea."

Cobra Commander waved his hand, dismissing Mindbender's half-hearted welcome. "I wanted to sssee our sssalvation for myself." He paced forward and gave the body a critical look. "Ssscrawny, isn't it?"

Mindbender's eyelid twitched. "It's stronger than you would think. Well… it will be."

"And pale."

Mindbender longed to point out that the body had never seen the light of day, but instead he took a deep, calming breath through his nose and said genially, "I'm about to wake it up. If you'd like to stand back, for your own safety…"

"It'sss a danger?"

"The awakening process may be somewhat traumatic for it. I would hate for anything to go wrong before it realises where it is."

Reluctantly, Cobra Commander retreated to the back of the laboratory. With an imperious snap of his fingers, he stationed his nervous troopers in a ring around him. "Proccccceed, Doctor."

Mindbender inhaled again, then twice for good measure, and turned back to his screens. He began entering commands.

The machines beeped menacingly as they sent co-ordinated surges of electricity through their wires. If anyone living had been touching them at that moment, they would have been burned to death. A heart monitor, which had been recording nothing but a flat line, began to register spikes. Mindbender ignored it, spinning to examine the EEG readings.

"Well?"

The Commander fell into the steadily growing category of things to ignore as Mindbender's pulse raced once more. The lines flickered, spiked and dipped erratically, then finally settled into a steady, normal pattern.

He exhaled, realising he had been holding his breath. "We did it."

* * *

Breathing was the first thing it noticed. Air, whistling through its nose, down its throat and into its lungs. Its chest, rising, and the comfortable constriction of its ribs. That led it to its skin, and the fact that it was lying on a hard flat surface. Following this was the realisation that the surface was cold, and then what else could it do but conclude that if there was something out there that was cold, there had to be something else also?

So it opened its eyes.

The light hurt them, but it wasn't unbearable. For a moment, though, what it saw simply didn't make sense. There was nothing _but _light.

It blinked, decided it enjoyed doing so, and blinked again. This time things came into focus. The room was silver and the walls were covered in reflective-something-or-other that was the source of all the light.

Movement. A bald head came into view. "Can you hear me?"

The voice sounded a bit distant. It wasn't sure how to answer.

"Nod your head if you can hear me."

It nodded stiffly.

The head turned. "You two, come here. Help it sit up."

A pair of rough hands grabbed its shoulders and hauled it upright. Its head swum for a moment or two, but it still shrugged the hands away. It didn't know much, but it did know that it didn't like them grabbing it.

Sitting upright, it could see that the head had a body. It could see that it had a body too. It glanced down at its hands and began flexing its fingers.

"Can you speak?" the bald man asked, his voice cracking with excitement.

"Yes," it said roughly.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Doctor. Doctor Mindbender."

"More importantly, do you know who _I _am?" a hissing, sibilant voice asked.

It looked at the man without a face. "You're… the Commander." The words were coming more easily now, rolling of its tongue, even as the thoughts were coming faster. "You lead."

"Very good, Mindbender," the Commander said. "You have done very well."

"I'm very glad that all is to your satisfaction," Mindbender said, bowing.

The Commander looked at it and nodded once, silently, then left the lab. Mindbender sighed, then turned to it and said crisply, "Get dressed. We don't have much time."

There was a pile of clothes on a table next to the gurney. It slid off the gurney and began pulling them on obediently.

Mindbender watched it, absently cataloguing the smooth movements. "So far, so good," he murmured to himself. Raising his voice, he added, "Your name is Alpha. Do you understand?"

It nodded, once.


End file.
